Life without smartphone is incomplete. For any Singaporeans, smartphones are the first and the last thing they hold every day. In fact, most Singaporeans sleep next with their smartphones. There are even people who cannot live without smartphones. These people are called addicts. Yes, there is such thing as smartphone addicts.

If there is a computer or gaming addiction, there is smartphone addiction which is part of the larger behavioural addictions. We have to know that it is an addiction as long as it produces pleasure in our brains and we lost total control. If we want to evaluate ourselves whether we are smartphone addicts or not, we have to know the 6 signs. Here are the signs:

Salience: Behaviour turns out to be salient when it is deeply rooted in our daily routine. This means that our day seems to be lacking without our smartphones. For example, we would go to the extent of back home if we discovered that our smartphones are left there.

Mood modification: Smartphones have the power to modify our moods. How so? Well, for starters, when we hear a tone, the feeling of excitement or anticipation is there. We feel euphoric. However, if our smartphones bring bad news, our mood suddenly changes from euphoria to doom.

Tolerance: Tolerance means the ability of the body to become adjusted to something (in this case smartphones) to address an increasing “dose” to reach desired “high”.

Withdrawal: Withdrawal is negative feelings of stress, desperation, irritability and anxiousness when we are separated from the thing that we want most. For addicts, they become agitated when they do not see or touch their smartphones.

Conflict: The outcome of addiction is conflict. Smartphone addictions affect our relationships with our family and friends. We may notice that the people around us are complaining about our use of smartphones. We have argued many times because we cannot let any text or call pass. We even use smartphones when driving the car. This is not healthy and it can be extremely dangerous.

Relapse: We realized that our smartphones are undermining our wellbeing so we do our best to stop but it is not for long. We slip back and that is called relapse.

By the time we read the signs, we will have better idea of whether we are an addict, on the borderline or not. If we are an addict, it is time to do something about it. There are many doctors here who specializes in different addictions, it is time to enlist their help.